Health Literacy and Cervical Cancer Screening Among Mexican-American Women

Abstract

Background: Health literacy is a requisite skill for making personal health and health care decisions. Low health literacy may contribute to lower cervical cancer screening rates and cervical cancer health disparities among Mexican-American women in South Texas. Objective: To explore older Mexican-American women's health literacy related to cervical cancer from the perspective of Zarcadoolas, Pleaseant, and Greer's health literacy model. Methods: We conducted five focus groups and seven individual interviews with 30 Mexican and Mexican-American women in South Texas. We analyzed demographic data using descriptive statistics and conducted thematic analysis of focus group and individual interview data. Key Results: Several themes reflected the domains of health literacy, including fundamental literacy (“speaking of language”), science literacy (cancer prevention), cultural literacy (“we are different”), civic literacy (the availability of “consejos” [advice]), and media literacy (e.g., “telenovelas” [soap-operas] teach a lot). In this article, we present findings related to culture and language under the domains of fundamental and cultural literacy. Conclusions: Mexican-American women's cultural values and language use may serve as both deterrents and incentives to cervical cancer screening. The meaning of words can be lost in translations. Health care providers can use this information to provide cervical cancer screening education congruent with Mexican-American's culture, language, and code switching. [ HLRP: Health Literacy Research and Practice . 2019;3(1):e1–e8.] Plain Language Summary: The understanding of culture and language can help health care providers improve cervical cancer screening practices among Mexican-American women. The results from this study can be used to individualize patient care and to develop education and communication strategies that are similar to the population we serve, including Mexican-American women.

Cervical Cancer Prevention in Racially Disparate Rural Populations

“…Tyler is an underserved rural area with an estimated population size of around 105,729 people [23]. Moreover, due to the lack of health literacy and related awareness, particularly among the uninsured minorities as demonstrated in other studies [24,25], limited visits could occur in the clinic for cervical health checkups. Another limitation is the lack of comprehensive follow-up data, which stemmed from the limited number of visits by the subjects.…”

Cervical Cancer Risks and Outcomes in Hispanic Women

“…Human Papillomavirus also known as HPV is a non-enveloped, double-stranded, circular DNA virus that has been proven to be a leading factor in the development of cervical cancer in women (3). HPV has over 100 subtypes identified, and from those 100 there are many subtypes that are specifically associated with the development of cervical cancer some of them being subtypes 16,18,31,33,35,45,52, and 58 (4) For example, HPV 16 has been shown to affect the genomes of the host (13). Even though HPV is not genetically inherited, recent studies have discovered the variant to be transmitted naturally.…”

“…In addition to the high prevalence of cervical cancer in Hispanic women, culture and social factors contribute to the lack of understanding of the disease. Due to the lack of understanding of the disease, families and caretakers are unable to communicate and provide awareness about the importance of getting tested (18). The Latina women's stigma of privacy especially when it comes to certain healthcare practices is a big factor, therefore putting them at risk (18).…”

“…Due to the lack of understanding of the disease, families and caretakers are unable to communicate and provide awareness about the importance of getting tested (18). The Latina women's stigma of privacy especially when it comes to certain healthcare practices is a big factor, therefore putting them at risk (18). Hispanic cultural beliefs such as stigma surrounding sensitive health topics, alternative remedies promoted and consumed, and the gender of the physician may often lead to negative outcomes because they are not well informed of the awareness and dangers of cervical cancer.…”

Testing the Preliminary Validity of a Multidimensional Framework for Studying the Effects of Cancer Health Literacy on Cancer Screening Behaviors among Diverse Populations

“…It has been well documented that poor health literacy is an important barrier to cancer screening adherence [12][13][14][15]. Although studies have identified the impact of social determinants of health, such as cultural beliefs, health literacy and language on disparities in cancer screening rates among minority populations [16][17][18], there is substantial evidence that health literacy is a complex, multidimensional construct that cannot be measured using generic measures that do not address different domains related to management of specific chronic diseases such as cancer [19][20][21][22][23][24].…”